, 1887-04-21
SPECIMENS OF HE "ousse.r
An Expert in Counterfeit Money-Dogus
Gold and Silver Coin.

An Expert IN counterfeit GoneN-DoEuA
Gold md Silver Coin.
The laws Of the United States provide
penalties not only for making, utterin3
and passing, but for ''having in posses
sion" counterfeit money, and when a
man can safely come to you and ''aash
up a roll of bills as large as your arm in
ionc hundreds, %fifties, twenties and 50 on
down, produce from one pocket a hand
full of glittering yellow boys and from
the other half u pint of what look like
silver coins, all counterfeit, he must be
some one quite out of the ordinary.
Such a man is James II. Gables, of
New York, an expert in spotting counter
felt money, and an attache of The United
States Treasury Counterfeit Detector,
who has just made one of his periodical
visits to Detroit. Mr.. Gables, under u
special license from the secretary of the
treasury, carries with him about 81, 700
in the cleverest of spurious paper, gold
and silver currency, every nickel Of
which would be good with any ordinary
person for its equivalent in beer and
bologna. lie devotes his time and speci-
mems to enlightening the simple as to the
dangers Of pinchbeck bills and coin, and
the necessity Of being supplied with q
counterfeit detector.
Mr.. Gables is q perfect intelligence Of
fee rs to all matters relating TO the
''queer, - and, although he is the avowed
enemy of counterfeiters, regards his
choicest specimens of criminal art with
something of the pride that q connois-
seur in prints feels in displaying an ar
fists proof of u Rafael or Morgan.
Perhaps he feels a little more Joy in
exhibiting the almost perfect work of
those great masters, Thomas Ballard and
Charles Ulrich, than in any other These
are hung IN the eye line of his gallery,
and have every advantage of light and
situation.
Ulrich did long time in the Ohio peni-
tertiary at Columbus, and while there
made a portrait of Governor "Foghorn'
Allen, which is now the best extant. 1t
was probably not in recognition of this
service that he was pardoned in 1876. \
number of well meaning ladies, imme-
diately upon bis release, established him
in the engraving business at Columbus,
but this was too slow for him, and in less
than n year he was floating a finely eXe-
cuted counterfeit of a So bill on a Penn
sylyania bank. The plate was run down
in 1880, but the bills still travel and are
exceedingly dangerous.
Ballard, the other premier, is now
doing thirty years at the Albany peniten-
tiary, under sentence imposed in 1875.
Another excellent ajet dart in Mr.. Ca
bles' gallery is the magnificent 500
bill made and floated by Smith and
~Brockaway in 1880. This would easily
pass with any one having small change
for it, unless he were a real expert.
One valuable suggestion made by Mr..
Gables is that any United States treasury
note, the number of which is not divisi-
BILE by four, is a counterfeit.
A fact not generally understood is that
the margin of profit in the making of
bogus gold coin is very small. The tens
and twenties it is almost impossible to
make heavy enough to deceive any one
but n pure amateur. In So pieces MIR.
Gables shows one which, with its mixture
of silver and fine lettering, is only dis
tinguishable from the genuine by u slight
unevenness of lettering. 1t will stand the
acid test almost perfectly. This coin has
an intrinsic value of $4.G0, leaving only
s per cent to cover the cost of manufac-
ture and the risk of a term in prison.
In silver coins there is now an elegant
and complete line of counterfeits. The
best of these is q dollar loated since 1879,
full weight and true ring, but composed
of Babbitt metal thinly coated with silver.
This costs twenty-five cents laid down at
the factory, and is disposed of to ''shov-
ers for fifty cents, leaving a profit of 100
per cent. to cover risk. A fifty cent piece,
Of 1879, is also a bad 'un. It is built Of
anthony, tin and Babbitt metal, is Of
full size and weight, clean cut and hand
some, but has a greasy "feel."
The Canadian bills in Mr.. Cables cab
met are mostly well engraved, but se de-
fective in lathe work and paper. In the
case of our own notes the popularity of
the paper is one of the most difficult points
for the counterfeiter to overcome.
Since April, 1886 seventeen new our
%terfeits of paper money have been dis
covered. Detroit Free Press.